Health care bed with variably sized bed frame and method of use thereof

Abstract

A health care bed, including a floor engaging base frame and a bed frame including at least two bed sections hingedly connected to each other and having a central frame portion and left and right wing sections having at least a retracted position and an extended position relative to the central frame portion; and a locking mechanism with at least one rocker bar, at least one spring and at least one locking button for releasably locking the wing sections in the retracted and extended positions.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A health care bed, comprising:
 a floor engaging base frame; 
 a bed frame including:
 at least two bed sections hingedly connected to each other and having a central frame portion and left and right wing sections having at least a retracted position and an extended position relative to the central frame portion; and 
 for each wing section, a locking mechanism with at least one rocker bar, at least one spring and at least one locking button for releasably locking said wing section in the retracted and extended positions. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The health care bed of  claim 1  wherein the central frame portion includes tube members with ends and the left and right wing sections include arms that are telescopically received within corresponding ends of the tube members to move between the retracted and extended positions. 
     
     
       3. The health care bed of  claim 2  wherein at least one arm of each wing section defines a cavity and has disposed therein one of the at least one rocker bars. 
     
     
       4. The health care bed of  claim 3  wherein the at least one arm defines a wing hole; there are defined at least two registration holes in the end of at least one of the tube members; and one of the at least one locking buttons is positioned within the cavity of the at least one arm to retractably extend through both the wing hole and a corresponding one of the at least two registration holes to define and releasably lock each wing section in the retracted and extended positions. 
     
     
       5. The health care bed of  claim 4  wherein one of the at least one springs is positioned within each cavity to bias a corresponding one of the at least one locking buttons through its wing hole and registration hole. 
     
     
       6. The health care bed of  claim 5  wherein each rocker bar has an inner end engaged with a corresponding locking button to move such corresponding locking button, against the bias of its corresponding spring, out of any corresponding registration hole. 
     
     
       7. The health care bed of  claim 6  wherein each rocker bar includes an outer end accessible outside of its cavity and a pivot plate between the outer and inner ends, the rocker bar and its pivot plate being sized and configured relative to the cavity in which it is disposed so that manually pushing the outer end pivots the rocker bar about its pivot plate to move the inner end and thus the locking button engaged therewith out of any corresponding registration hole. 
     
     
       8. A health care bed, comprising:
 a floor engaging base frame; 
 
       a bed frame including at least two bed sections connected to each other and having a central frame portion and left and right wing sections having at least a retracted position and an extended position relative to the central frame portion; and for each wing section, a locking mechanism with at least one rocker bar, at least one spring and at least one locking button for releasably locking said wing section in the retracted and extended positions.